Forgotten Friend
by AngelSweetie
Summary: Lured by dreams of a childhood friend, Akane Tendo slowly starts to disappear. Ranma and the others have no idea why and watch helplessly as her energy gets drained evrytime Akane gets lulled into a dream. The key is in her forgotten past....


**_Forgotten Friend_**

**Chapter 1:** Dreaming

**© AngelSweetie 2003**

**E-mail me:** m_angeleyes@hotmail.com

**Disclaimer**: Me, own Ranma? Quit dreaming, I know I have!

**My Rants: **I edited this chapter of my fic so hopefully it sounds and flows better than it did before. Thanks to all those people who reviewed my story even though I haven't made much of an effort to start writing up the next chapter! 

So anyways, without further adieu this is chapter one to Forgotten Friend with a few minor changes!

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Chapter 1: Dreaming

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**Funny how my mind tells me to do one thing and my mouth does another, I'm certain that my mouth has a brain of its own.**

**                                                     -Ranma Saotome**

_"Akane-chan, please do not cry. We will meet again. I will come for you soon," a voice within the darkness murmurs._

_ A small girl with tears forming around her big blue eyes, searches desperately in the darkness to locate the owner of the voice. She stumbles through her silent sobs then sees him half hidden in the blackness. _

_"Please don't go!" she begs as the boy suddenly starts to disappear. "Please don't leave me!" she yells again at the wane form. He smiles back at her as his face slowly vanishes into the shadows._

_"Do not worry Akane-chan. Soon…soon we will be together again." _

"No!" Akane Tendo bolted upright on her bed only to find deep blue eyes looking worriedly into her own.

"You all right Akane?" Ranma Saotome asked, trying to not to show the shock and worry he felt for his fiancée.

 "I…I'm fine. I just had a… uh…nightmare." Akane tried to explain, still shaking from the lingering memories of her dream.

Ranma looked at her with unbelieving eyes, "Oh really, that would explain why you've been crying in your sleep for the past ten minutes not to mention the screaming. I'm surprised the rest of the household haven't woken up yet."

"I...I was crying?" she asked sceptically.

Ranma rolled his eyes. "Duh," he said as he gently caressed a finger down her tear stained cheeks. "See," he held out his finger so that Akane could see a silent tear glistening in the moonlight. 

"I…uh guess I was," Akane chuckled, putting a hand behind her head all the while sweat dropping inwardly. She could feel her face turning bright from Ranma's touch.

The raven haired boy also started to feel his own face start to flame once he realised what he had done. He coughed to cover up his uneasiness. 

"So ummm, do you want a glass of water or something?" he asked, avoiding all eye contact.

Akane shook her head, smiling softly. "Thanks for the offer Ranma but we'd better get some sleep. We still have school today." She pointed out and instantly winced. She didn't mean to imply Ranma's lack of punctuality when it came to school; it just came out that way.

 Ranma just shrugged, letting the implication slide. He began to walk out of his fiancée's room, yawning as he reached for the door handle, but before he had the chance of opening it, Akane stopped him shortly. 

"Ranma?" she whispered from her bed.

He turned his head around to face his short haired fiancée and couldn't help but smile at her flimsy yellow pyjamas and her innocent face. He noticed, definitely not for the first time, just how cute Akane really was. He felt himself mentally reaching out to touch her face again but then stopped his thoughts quickly, shaking his head slightly as if the action would help to wipe away his hidden desires. 

"What is it?" Ranma finally answered; his voice a little hoarse. 

That's when she smiled at him and he was certain that if he had died right then and there, then he would have died a happy man.

"Thank you," she said, her face looking even more heavenly from the moon's glow.

Even though they were the two most commonly used words in the English dictionary, Ranma couldn't help but feel like they were special just because Akane had used it for him only. He suddenly felt an odd warm feeling wash over him and it made his whole body tingle. 

Ranma smiled back, shrugging then turned his head so that Akane couldn't see the wider grin that was playing about his lips. "Hey it's no biggie. Good night." He replied as he exited her bedroom, trying so badly to cover up his overwhelming happiness. 

"Good night," Akane whispered as she settled herself back into her warm bed. A few minutes went by before the sudden images of her dream came flooding back into her mind. She knew that it was trying to tell her something, the question was what? The sleepy girl knew that the boy was familiar to her somehow but yet his identity was a mystery.

 Sighing sleepily, she began to feel her eyelids grow heavy. She listened to her clock's rhythmic ticking as it lulled her into a dreamless sleep, her last thoughts of Ranma stroking her face.

At the bottom of the Tendo house, Ranma stared up at the ceiling as if trying to see through the boards and into Akane's room. He instantly began to blush at the thought, but couldn't help the picture of Akane sleeping soundly remain in his mind. That was until she began to cry and yell in her sleep. 

The raven haired youth knitted his brows in confusion; he had never seen Akane like that before. It sent shivers down his spine just remembering how serene she looked one minute and all scrunched up the next. 

Ranma began to blush a deeper scarlet; he wasn't even supposed to be in her room. He had gotten up to take a drink of water and somehow wandered into her bedroom. He blamed it on his sleep walking but he knew deep inside, even though he hated to admit it, that he had gone up there with his own free will. 

Ranma let out a groan. Luckily Akane hadn't questioned him for being around her room in the early hours and calling him a pervert because he knew that this time she would have been right.

 He yawned out loud. The eleventh death anniversary of Akane's mother was in two days and he was specifically warned to act extra careful around her during the next few days because out of all the Tendo sisters, Akane was the one who was hurt by her mother's death the most. 

Ranma yawned again, feeling very weary. He had to get some sleep, but it seemed impossible now that he was starting to get worried for his fiancée as well as the fact that his father, who was in panda form, was snoring like there was a traffic jam in his throat. 

'Akane what is going on? Who were you calling out to? Who left you?' he asked both to himself and to the sleeping person whose bedroom was just above his. Slowly, his eyelids got the better of him and he was soon fast asleep, thinking about Akane's tear stained face one last time until in no time at all he was snoring softly into his pillow.   

Ranma raced down the stairs early the next morning, trying to get both his hair and his shoes in order. He knew he was going to be seriously late. He quickly went into the dining room where most of the family had already finished eating breakfast, he was sure that his pop had eaten his too. 

'Maybe Akane would give me some of hers?' he thought to himself, hopeful. He entered the room and was surprised to see Akane just sitting there and not eating at all, she wasn't even worried about being late for school which was very odd as it was usually her who was reprimanding him every time they were late. 

"Uh, hey Akane are you… going to eat that?" Ranma asked, kicking himself psychologically. Now why did he have to go and say something that insensitive and stupid to her at that very moment? What he really wanted to ask her was if she was okay. Funny how his mind told him to do one thing and his mouth did another, he was sure his mouth had a brain of its own. 

Akane looked up at him with a dazed look upon her fatigued face. She shook her head and pushed her plate towards him. 

Ranma slowly sat down next to the blue haired girl and ate his breakfast silently, stealing glances at his fiancée every now and then. Something was definitely up. He knew without a doubt in his mind that it was because of the nightmare that she had earlier that morning. It was times like these that he wished he was smarter enough at emotional stuff so that he could say the right things to cheer Akane up. However he continued to eat…this wasn't going too well. 

Nabiki Tendo soon appeared with her bag in hand, "Hurry up you two, you're going to be late." She chided at the two teenagers who were sitting silently around the table. 

The older Tendo daughter, Kasumi, appeared at Nabiki's side, "Nabiki's right. You two had better get going." She scolded, but somehow still smiling pleasantly at the same time. 

A smirk soon covered Nabiki's face, "Well it wouldn't surprise me that you two are still tired from this morning's little rendezvous at Akane's room." She said in a singsong voice. 

Kasumi looked at Nabiki with wide eyes, "What?" she asked putting a hand on her mouth. "Oh my."

Ranma sweat dropped, nearly choking on his rice. He knew what was to come next, it was typical. He counted to three and in burst Soun Tendo and his father. They tried to get into the doorway together but ended up getting stuck instead. They struggled for a few more seconds until they fell into a heap on the floor.

 "What?!" they exclaimed in unison, they obviously heard the news. How? Ranma just didn't know. Maybe they had little devices tapped in each room so that they could keep track of everything that was going on in the house and more importantly, to keep track of Ranma and Akane.

The raven haired boy started to protest and tried to defend himself against the two girls and the two grown men, although he knew that it was all pointless. He looked at Akane for help but her head was bowed and her lashes were also lowered. Ranma doubted that she was even listening at all let alone watching them. 

The pig tailed boy sighed with frustration, he was going to protest some more but Akane had gotten up, put on her shoes, gotten her bag and started to walk slowly out of the room, leaving Ranma alone with the pack of wolves known as her family and his dad. 

"I don't agree with that father." Kasumi was saying, her eyes showing sisterly concern. "They should be wedded first before they do anything else." She said gently but firmly. 

"But they will be soon," Soun argued back, feeling triumphant. His little daughter finally got her act together with her fiancée. He felt a wedding coming up soon.

Genma, Ranma's own father, started to jab at his sides teasingly, "So you gave her the old Saotome magic, eh boy?" he questioned, smirkingly. 

Ranma would have knocked his father dead for saying something that ridiculous and insane but he was too busy staring after Akane. He was really worried about her now. All the sly remarks and the teasing efforts were soon forgotten and it seemed to vanish away into the background. All Ranma could focus on was the sad and drained expression Akane had on. He went after her immediately, leaving the rest of the family to ponder more about Ranma and Akane's little meeting.

"Akane! Akane wait up!" Ranma's voice called out to her. 

Akane looked up and saw Ranma running along the green fence, not even breaking a sweat. 

Ranma rolled his eyes at her, "Gee Akane, so now you listen. I was calling you ages ago."

Akane stared at him blankly and sighed, "What is it Ranma?" her voice not having the same spark within it. 

Ranma shrugged, and put his arm around his head, "It's just that we left our lunches." Once again his mouth managed to stuff up on him. He was going to seriously slap himself one of these days. All Ranma wanted to do was to look his fiancée in the eyes and ask her what was wrong, but somehow the thought scared him.

The dark blue haired girl smiled weakly, "Always thinking with your stomach, huh Ranma?" she asked. If it was a normal day, Ranma would have bit out a remark but he held it back because this wasn't just an average day. He gave her a smile instead, although she couldn't see it because her back was turned from him. 

"Now there's the Akane I know." He replied. 

Akane craned her neck to look at Ranma and semi smiled then continued walking.

"You know we're going to be late for school if we don't hurry up," Ranma pointed out trying to miraculously start up a proper conversation without it turning into a fight. Akane nodded and started to run; Ranma jumped off the picked fence and ran beside her. He noticed that even her running didn't hold the same rhythmic movements, it seemed slowed and slurred. He sighed but continued to run. He had to keep a watchful eye on her today.

Once they reached the gates of Furinken High, Ranma noticed that no one was out on the yards, which could only mean one thing.

"Late again, Ranma Saotome and Akane Tendo?" their teacher barked, rising his brows in utter disapproval. He pointed at the door and both Akane and Ranma knew what that meant, they were, after all, seeing his hands point at the door at a daily basis. 

They walked out of the classroom bowing their heads in shame as the rest of their classmates leered at them, then filed out into the empty corridor and picked up two buckets of water as their punishment for their tardiness. 

Akane sighed feeling like her whole energy had been drained out from her body. A second later, her hands began to tremble causing the water, in either buckets she was holding, to splash out, making a wet patch on her uniform. Akane didn't even seem to notice.

Ranma saw what was happening and silently took the buckets away from her and held it himself, knowing very well that his fiancée was too tired to hold the both up. Akane silently thanked him with a small smile, earning Ranma more bonus points for being nice guy of the day. He felt his heart skip a beat.

 They stood in silence for a few more minutes, waiting for their teacher to come rampaging out of the room to give them a good yelling, when all of a sudden, without any warning at all, Akane collapsed. But with Ranma's quick cat like reflexes he, in one way or another, managed to hold onto Akane before she had time to hit the floor. The four pails of water, however, did hit the floor. Their teacher soon came running, angry and furious and ready to kill his mischievous students. But once he saw Akane's closed eyes he immediately sent someone to call the school nurse.

Ranma, who was on the floor and cradling the unconscious girl, looked at Akane's face and began to panic, never in his life dealing with a situation such as this. He had no idea what to do; he couldn't protect Akane from something that he couldn't see.

Akane felt him again, he was closer now. She felt being pulled into the dream, this time it was different but all the while the same as well.

_'I'll be coming for you Akane,' the voice in the darkness kept saying as it echoed into the great vastness of the misty plane. Akane looked around feeling confused. She wanted to yell for help or at least question the man but her body wouldn't let her, it was as if she was in suspended animation. Nothing allowed her to move. Not even her mind. She tried to scream._


End file.
